Section C: Fife Ness to Buddon Ness

(6 towers and 71 other structures)

(Fife, Perth and Kinross, City of Dundee, Angus)

Column 1: Reference numbers (Michael; Admiralty; NGA Publication 114);
Admiralty and NGA references for disused lights are no longer to be found in the official lists
Column 2: Name of light; Details (character, height above high water, nominal range in nautical miles)
Column 3: Description of structure; Notes; Link to image (for towers this link is in the form of a thumbnail image);
Grid Reference; Maps (LR, EX: Ordnance Survey;
CH: Admiralty Chart at various scales) (see Notes in the Introduction)

Within
this Section, Publ. 114 recognises only M026, M026A-02, M028 and M029-07

Established 1975 (PH Hyslop)
on discontinuation of North Carr Lightship
White building 5m Extraordinary building for a lighthouse: rectangular
lantern room about 10 by 15 feet and maybe 9 or 10 feet high, squared-off roof overhanging the curved-on-plan full-height windows,
standing directly at ground level at top of a low cliff. No doubt because of the resulting vulnerability of the glass windows
to passers-by, and possibly because standing close to the windows you’d be exposed to the full power of the focused beam,
this is the only lighthouse Michael has seen entirely enclosed in a chain-link fence with a strong padlock on the gate. The
fence is so located on the surrounding steep ground that it is always well below the beam. At the rear of the building is a
garage-like extension about ten feet square. Light source is a 100V 35A double-filament lamp. The dark phase of the Iso 10 sec
period is achieved by switching a bank of resistors in parallel with the lamp to reduce the current through the filament.
There is no
rotating optic. During nominal off period, light maintains a very low light level, but clearly not dark—see alternative photos.
This is not seen at any great distance, certainly not from S shore of Firth at distance of 12 miles, which is where
you have to go if you want to see it dry-shod (except of course on the rocky foreshore a few yards to seaward).
Visible only from seaward, within arc 143 to 023 True. Shows a red sector 197 to 217 True over North Carr Rocks, achieved by the
insertion of a transparent strip of red plastic standing against the inside of the outer window. A subsidiary bank of prisms
above the main optic ensures that the top of this strip is evenly illuminated. The Rocks are about a mile off-shore, and
are also marked by an E Cardinal buoy and an unlit beacon. The beacon, and another one near
Barns Ness called South Carr, mark the seaward limit of the Forth Ports Authority.
NO638098LR59; EX371S; CH (SSc) 2, 2182B, 1407, (MSc) 175, 190

Established 2013
Mid-Victorian stone tower 3m (including timber lanternhouse, originally built as coastguard lookout, on top) Strongly
directional light produced by three tube-lights in parallel, fixed to the underside of the ceiling of the lanternhouse:
the R and G lights are in antiphase to the W lightThe use of three tube-lights to form a WRG directional light is
apparently now the standard method: cf Nos M014-01 in Section A and M096-06 in Section HNO516167LR54, 59; EX371N; CH (SSc) 1407, (MSc) 190

There is now no
trace of two of the three lights or their structures mentioned in the Admiralty List for 1931 and listed below.
Their details are therefore italicised.
The lower courses of the pier head light still remain (see M026A-01)

Bracket on cathedral wallTwo small
partially-destroyed turrets at and close to the northern corner of the wall round the cathedral
grounds have locked wooden doors and may be suggestiveThe elevation given by the Admiralty is too high
to have been in the position of the new directional light M026ANO5116LR59; EX371N & S

Dock entrance W sideFR
discontinued

No trace of any structureNO5116
LR59; EX371N & S

The Admiralty lists the isolated rock tower the Bell Rock at this point, between St Andrews and Tentsmuir point; but the
closest point of the mainland is Whiting Head, to the north of Arbroath, and accordingly Michael's List shows it in Section D

Established 1848 (Thomas Stevenson). Circular lanternhouse
on white wooden shed, the whole supported on pile structure, overall 16m.
On the same line as M028,
and acted as front element of leading lights after discontinuation of M027-D
imageThe image shows M030, M031 Buddon High and Low Lights in the backgroundLR54, 59; EX371N; CH1481:shown as "Larick (ru)"

There is now no trace of the
following three lights mentioned in the 1931 Light List nor of their structures

(A3148)

StationFR, 8m, 5 miles
discontinued

Lantern on signal-box
Building destroyedNO4529LR54, 59; EX371N

(A3144)

E pier headFR, 5m, 5 miles
discontinued

White tower
Destroyed: (but see M026A-04)NO4529LR54, 59; EX371N

(A3146)

W pierFBlue, 8m, 4 miles
discontinued

Post, 65m from head of pier
See M026-07NO4529LR54, 59; EX371N

Onastic lights:

M026A-04--

E pier headR 1/5, 7m, 2 milesNO458292

White square metal post, red bandsperhaps on the site of the white towerimagesLR54, 59; EX371N

M026A-05--

W pier
G 1/5, 7n, 2 milesNO457 1/2 292

White square metal post, green bands, 65m from head of pierperhaps the same post as for the Fixed Blue lightimageLR54, 59; EX371N

Disused tower :

M027-D--

Tayport Low LightFWdiscontinued
1848 on construction of pile lighthouse, being too close to the High Light to
give a precise leading lineNO451293

Established 1820White
tower 23m
Also called "West Lighthouse" and (in Admiralty List for 1970) "Harding" Strongly
directional light produced by "tube-light" (see bottom of lantern on the close-up image)
Tower and buildings now privately owned. Shows WRG sector light, the whole in a cone of only 4°, visible from
only one point on dry land,
so that even the locals think the light is out of use. Five faces of the octagonal lantern are
blanked off. Originally showed FW as rear leading light over the Low Light (later the Pile Light) as front light;
tube-light installed on discontinuation of Pile Light. Line marked brings vessels into Firth of Tay.

NO447293LR54, 59; EX371N; CH1409, 1481

Tay Road bridge(no access)The lights are so close together that the grid references are given to eight figuresOn Chart 1481 the pairs of lights upstream and downstream at the centres of the navigation spans
are shown by implication only
Onastic lights:

NewportNewport Jetty comprises two parallel slipways each about 30 feet wide, separated by a single-leaf, 7-foot masonry wall.
The jetty is now used as a builder's yard, and access should be considered to be impossible
The lights take unusual M-references, to avoid renumbering the next thirty structures. They are all uncharted
Disused onastic lights:

Friarton bridge:The Friarton Bridge carries the M90 motorway across the river. Each vertical
pair of fixed reds and greens on the piers nearest the river, showing upstream
and down, are about 20m apart, too far to be fully shown in a single image. They
are therefore given individual M-numbers. The arrangement of the long bolts
supporting lamps hanging from the underside of the deck is best seen at M028-43
Girder-mounted lights:

M028-36A3205

S pier lower E sideFRNO130216

Bracket bolted to pierApproached by short ladder separately bolted to pierimageLR53, 58;
EX369

M028-37A3205

S pier upper E sideFRNO130216

R lantern on plate hanging by long bolts
from underside of deckno image availableLR53, 58; EX369

DundeeIn 1930 there were 13 lights on the Dundee waterfront, all of which except for the next four have been destroyed
Two of these were towers at Camperdown Dock. Disused tower:

M029-D--

Dundee Middle Pier(in 1930) FR, 7m, 5 milesdiscontinuedNO405300

Established 1827.
Masonry tower
6m.Originally stood on wharf of William IV Dock, as the rear element of
leading lights leading clear of the Beacon Rock. Now stands in municipal
parkland 100 yards from present sea wall LR54, 59;
CH1481-A

Monifieth and Barry Range The Barry Range
is a designated military training ground, and firing with live ammunition takes place
regularly. At such times red flags are flown at points where access may be obtained, and
the red light M029-06 is shown. The structures M029-06, M029-07, M030 and M031 are all within
the boundaries of the range, and access to them is often dangerous Onastic lights:

M029-06----

Barry Range WestQR, ?, ?NO505322

Grey post 4m. Not listed by Admiralty. Occasional:
shown when firing is taking place on the Barry RangeimageLR54

The sandbanks in the mouth of the Tay are notorious for their variability of position.
The two Buddon Ness lights were designed to give a leading light through the banks both inward
and outward, and the front tower was the first to be designed to be easily movable,
to follow the movements of the channel. D. Alan Stevenson, in The World's
Lighthouses to 1820, suggests they may have been first erected in 1600, but
this would make them antecedent to the coal light on the Isle of May. Other
sources suggest dates between 1660 and 1687, making them the second lighthouses
in Scotland. It was seventy years before another Scottish light was established.
The towers were originally built of wood, and
probably lit by candles mounted inside a lanternhouse. The rear tower was
rebuilt in stone in 1753, perhaps retaining the candle lantern, to a height of
17m. In 1789 both towers were converted to oil lamps with reflectors by Thomas Smith,
working on behalf of the Dundee Trinity House, not the Northern Commissioners.
Thomas Stevenson rebuilt both towers in stone, into the design seen today, in
about 1880. They were discontinued in 1943 because the alterations of the
channels could no longer be marked by moving the towers.